Style over substance... (OGK Aeroblade)

Member Name: philmatthews

Product:	OGK Aeroblade
Date:	15/03/02 (1735 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks good (before it breaks), Comes apart easily for cleaning

Disadvantages: Appaling build quality, Noisy, Loses it's shape internally

When I moved up to my first 'proper' motorcycle, I decided to upgrade to a slightly more creditable option than my learner budget lid. The OGK Aeroblade caught my eye straight away. It was styled like a crash helmet that you would expect to pay double its RRP for. After trying it on, it appeared to fit perfectly. I was also tempted by the facility to add tear off visor strips (although these are fairly expensive, so they tear off and go into my pocket...)

It took a mere fortnight for the first problem to show up. After a spell of bad weather, I removed the visor to clean it. It was easy to remove and clean but when I reattached it, it was no longer flush against the gasket and as a result, wind and water now seeps in around the edge of the visor. Also, by this time, the polystyrene had deformed and no longer gripped my head properly, causing the helmet to vibrate and become very noisy at high speeds.

A few months later the scalp vent broke. I didn't make a habit of opening and closing it regularly, but the switch broke off, leaving me unable to operate the vent without removing the helmet and using a biro or such implement. Subsequently the same has happened to the chin vent. The brow vent has also stuck shut.

Recently I have reverted back to my previous crash helmet as a result of the rear blade detatching itself at speed on a motorway. The part disappeared over an embankment never to be seen again. The foam glue had simply detatched. The top vent also fell off, but I was able to find it and reattach it with a glue gun. I was mortified to find that to replace the damaged parts would cost me in the region of £100, over half the cost of the crash helmet in the first place. Also, the loss of the blade removed my final defence of the lid - it's looks. Now I have a noisy, leaky, broken crash helmet, which no longer fits properly. Sounds like I got a real bargain for my £180 doesn't it...?

Summary: